


Can't Handle the Past?

by Gold_Dog



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: Angst, Dark, Eventual Romance, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gold_Dog/pseuds/Gold_Dog
Summary: Seth, with his memory newly wiped, starts training with Ronodin. Kendra is looking for her brother. As his relationship with his captor and mentor starts to deepen, Seth is forced to choose between his old friends and new commitments. Starts after book two and contains altered snippets from Master of the Phantom Isle (Spoilers, obviously). Will eventually continue from the end of book three.
Relationships: Ronodin & Seth Sorenson, Ronodin/Seth Sorenson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. A New Outlook

Seth stood in front of a stone door with a key in his hands. It looked expensive. He looked down at his hands. What was going on? Where was he? Who was he? He seemed to be a young teen.

"Seth, are you okay?"

He looked at the girl who was talking. She seemed worried. Was something wrong? Who was Seth? Maybe she was talking to someone else. Looking around, he only saw a man that was approaching the girl from behind. 

"Don't struggle”, the stranger said, pinning the girl's arms to her sides. “We don't have much time."

Did she need help? She seemed to be trying to grab the man with the glove on her hand. He didn’t know whether to side with the striking stranger or the young woman who seemed to know him.

“Ronodin?” she asked.

“Celebrant is coming”, Ronodin said. “We need to get into that room”

“What is happening?” Seth asked.

“The girl has a dangerous glove. She will turn us to metal if she can touch us with it”

Even as he said it, it seemed that she tried to reach around and grab him with it.

“Seth! Help me!” the girl (presumably Kendra) screamed. 

“Don’t fall for her tricks,” Ronodin said. “You’re with me. We’re friends, Seth. I’m here to protect you from her.”

“I’m your sister! Ronodin is a dark unicorn. He wants to steal a powerful item from us. If he gets it then we’ll all be in trouble.”

“She is no sister of yours! If she gets the item she might use it to destroy you, just as she’s trying now with the glove.”

Kendra stopped squirming.

“Take it off,” Ronodin said, ”You can keep it, but Seth and I don’t want to become a precious metal. I need insurance you won’t use it against us.”

“Seth, I’m not going to hurt you! I’m your sister! Listen to me. We can take him together and then claim the stone.”

Seth felt completely helpless. How could he choose? This girl seemed genuine, but she had called the man a unicorn. That was ridiculous, right? And earlier, she was trying to get at him with the magic glove.

“What is going on? What happened to me?’

“For now, you should just wait,” Ronodin said, “You sacrificed your memory to get me through the door. Fret not, I will take care of this.”

With that, Seth backed off to the side and let them through. Ronodin let Kendra take off the glove, and Seth breathed a sigh of relief. He may not know who he was, but he did not want to be turned to metal. 

Ronodin and Kendra stepped through the door and he followed them in. Near the center of the room, there stood an ornate jewel on a pedestal. He walked toward it at first, and would have grabbed it if not for Ronodin. 

“Careful, Seth. It is almost certainly trapped. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt,” he said.

Seth locked eyes with him, and found what looked like genuine worry and concern. Did he really know this man? He drew his hand back and walked toward the far corner of the room. 

As the other two talked, Seth tried to collect his thoughts. He was  _ somebody _ . That he was sure of. But no memories seemed to surface. How could he have lost them all? He could not think of any relatives, past experiences, or preferences, and he did  _ not _ recognize either of these people. All he knew was that he did not belong here.

“Who’s side are you on?” Kendra shouted, jolting Seth from his train of thought.

“I’m on  _ my  _ side,” Ronodin said. “And my friend’s, Seth.”

“He is no friend of yours! He is my brother!” Kendra shouted, clearly getting more and more frustrated.

“Now, now, the time for theatrics is not now. It appears we have a visitor.”

A large man in leather armor strode into the room, with a silver-grey beard and a stocky build, followed by an even bulkier man in armor. Seth was worried, but his internal confusion kept him from following the conversation. Much to his dismay, one of the large men grabbed the stone and turned to ash. Another man came in and tried for the stone as well, resulting in the same consequence. A dwarf man appeared and sent Ronodin away. Seth backed farther and farther into the corner and closed his eyes. He heard Kendra asking if he could get his memories back and it gave him a surge of hope. Instead of a flood of memories, he was met with a cold, dark room.

Where was he? He cried out for help, and it seemed to echo harmlessly off the walls, ignored. Thunder boomed outside as rain poured down. Soon, he heard a faint jingling sound. A man made of wood ran into his room and picked him up roughly.

Seth tried to squirm free, but to no avail. Hopefully, someone would get him free. He saw the puppet drag him through a castle and across a courtyard. He heard the distressed cry of the young woman he met earlier in the room with the jewel. He yelled back. Before long, he was being stuffed into a barrel. What was the wooden man going to do to him?

Suddenly, he was in a cold room, and Ronodin was helping him out of the barrel. Something was wrong. For one, he was in no barrel. He couldn’t hear the faintest patter of the rain that should be outside. Behind him, the wooden puppet came out from the barrel, also assisted by Ronodin.

“Where did you take me?” Seth asked, defiant.

“I was worried they would try to take you from me,” Ronodin said. “I had to think fast. I’m glad you got away unhurt. They wanted to take advantage of your vulnerable state.”

“It seemed that you were the one who took me. I didn’t ask to come here.” Seth said, less sure now.

Ronodin laughed. It was not unkind, more pitying than anything.

“Come now, Seth. You know me. Or I suppose you  _ knew _ me. All I want is you to be safe, with your mentor.”

“Mentor? What would you teach me?”

“Seth, you have forgotten more about darkness than many would ever know. You are powerful, and you will rise to new heights.”

Seth looked at Ronodin with new eyes. What could he teach him, and what was all this talk about darkness?

“Don’t worry Seth, I don’t mean to scare you”, he said, leaning closer. “You and I are going to make beautiful music together.”


	2. An agreement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I realize that this is ridiculously short, but I just wanted to put something on here before I leave for a while tomorrow. Also, it's been a while since I've read the third book so the events might not follow canon exactly.

He woke up on a cold bed, with a flimsy mattress on top. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but then again, he didn’t remember a lot of things.

He heard a click come from the door across the room, and then it opened, and the man called Ronodin stepped through. Seth sat up quickly.

“Ah, good. You’re awake,” he said.

“Where are we?” Seth asked, “And who am I?”

“I will answer all that in due time,” he responded. “First, I need to test something.”

Ronodin came closer, sat on the bed with him, and then gingerly took his hands. Seth could see the deep brown, almost black eyes looking into his. The gaze made him feel uncomfortable, like this guy was uncovering something he shouldn't know, or like he knew more about his past than Seth did.

“What… are you doing?” Seth asked, hesitantly.

“Hush. Don’t speak,” he said.

He looked into his eyes for a while more, and Seth felt himself get entranced in them. They seemed to pull him in, like they were each their own black whole, and Seth was an unfortunate star caught in their gravity.

Finally Ronodin released his hands, and said, “You are more powerful than I first thought.”

Seth had to admit, he liked the sound of that quite a lot.

“What exactly do you mean?” he asked.

“I mean that your abilities as a shadow charmer could lead to you becoming far greater than what they would have taught you.”

“Are you saying that I was with them before you took me?”

“Well, yes. But they tricked you, Seth, they were using you. All I want is to help you grow stronger.”

“And why would you want that?”

“Because, Seth, I know that we could potentially make a good team. I won’t force you to work with me, of course, but at least give me some of your time. After a while, I’ll certainly bring you back to them if that’s what you want.”

Seth nodded. Sure, he might not know a lot about himself, but at least he reasoned that it couldn’t hurt too much to understand what this power was that was inside of him.

“Fine,” he said, “I’ll do it."


End file.
